ON THIS DAY

JANUARy 19, 1942

MR WINSTON CHURCHILL, Britain’s Prime Minister, who last flew a plane in 1913, took the controls of a Boeing Clipper flying-boat taking him home from Bermuda. Wearing his siren suit and smoking a cigar, he walked on to the flight deck and asked, with a grin, to take over. The pilot agreed. [Transatlantic flights were in their infancy, and Churchill, then 67, was the first head of state to cross the Atlantic by plane.]

JANUARy 19, 1957

FOUR times around the Palace gardens every day. Those are the doctor’s orders for Princess Grace of Monaco [Grace Kelly] to keep fit for the birth of her baby. She is also on a diet: potatoes and sweets are forbidden.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

DOLLY PARTON, 72. The country singer (right) grew up in poverty in Tennessee. She said: ‘I was on television before we even had one at home. In fact, I bought our first family set . . . on credit.’ According to the Forbes rich list, in 2017 she earned $40million from touring and her Dollywood theme park. DENNIS TAYLOR, 69. The Northern Irish former snooker world champion, who wore ‘upside- down’ glasses for matches, was parodied in Chas & Dave’s hit Snooker Loopy: ‘Them long shots, he never ever got . . . But nowadays he pots the lot’ with Taylor singing ‘cos I wear these goggles’. Appearing on BBC TV’s The Real Marigold Hotel, he visited the colonial Ooty Club in South India, where the rules of the game were first drawn up in 1882.

BORN ON THIS DAY

JANIS JOPLIN ( 19431970). The U. S. singersongwriter (right) died of a heroin overdose aged 27. She said she always felt out of place at home in Texas: ‘I read, I painted, I didn’t hate n*****s. Man, those people back home hurt me. It makes me happy to know I’m making it and they’re back there, plumbers just like they were.’ JAMES WATT (1736-1819). The Scottish mechanical engineer invented a steam engine in 1784 that was pivotal to the Industrial Revolution. According to a family anecdote, his fascination with steam was lifelong. As a child he was chided for trying to play with a steaming kettle.

ON JANUARY 19…

IN 1935, Jockey, the world’s first men’s briefs, went on sale in Chicago. IN 1940, The Three Stooges’ film You Nazty Spy! was released — the first Hollywood film to satirise the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

WORD WIZARDRY GUESS THE DEFINITION: Ichthyomancy (1693)

A) Fortune-telling using poetry. B) Divination using fingernails. C) Fortune- telling with fish heads or entrails. Answer below.

PHRASE EXPLAINED To turn one’s coat: To desert your principles and join the other side. From when battlefield uniforms were colourful. Linings were a different shade, allowing soldiers to swap sides by reversing them.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

AN actor’s a guy who, if you ain’t talking about him, ain’t listening. Marlon Brando, American actor (1924-2004)

JOKE OF THE DAY

HOW did the banana get out of prison? It was released on a peel. Guess The definition answer: C.